


I'll Run To You

by Bella916



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst, Based on the movie Safe Haven, Betty Cooper A+ Parenting, Betty Cooper Needs a Hug, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff and Smut, PTSD, Single Parent Jughead Jones, Smut, tragic past
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-16
Updated: 2019-10-28
Packaged: 2020-12-20 18:18:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21061085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bella916/pseuds/Bella916
Summary: Missing Person: Elizabeth SmithLast Seen: Hampton, VirginiaDate Missing: August 12th, 2019Age:26Hair Color: BrownHeight 5'6"And charged with first-degree murder?Running from her trauma, Betty Cooper stumbles upon a safe and quiet town, Riverdale.When she arrives she meets a handsome owner of a local minimarket, Jughead Jones, a guy with his own tragedies.When two tortured souls collide, what will happen?Will love, lust, romance, and two young ones make them whole again?





	1. City sky's feeling dark tonight

**Author's Note:**

> Here is a new story! I did not have enough inspiration for the last story, so yeah here you go.

**10 hours earlier**

** _BANG! BANG!_ **

_"LET ME IN! PLEASE LET ME IN!" _

_The door opens to reveal an elderly lady._

_"Oh dear! What happened?" The lady asks startled._

_Betty rushes inside._

**Now**

Betty Cooper makes her way through the sea of people at the crowded bus station. She purchases a bus ticket at one of the available windows. As she walks towards the line of buses waiting she spots _him_ standing under a lampost, it's dark but she can still see the sinister look in his glare. She dashes for her bus. She sits down on one of the seats and sees him moving from bus to bus, looking for her. She sits there praying _actually _praying for this bus to start moving. She sees him giving up and lets out a sigh as she sees him moving back to the station. Betty _finally _relaxes and falls asleep. 

Betty wakes up a few hours later to the light shining on her face through the window. She registers that it is morning. she sits up straight and stares out her window. _Peaceful_, she thought as she looked at the small town. 

The bus comes to a slow stop. Betty looks out the window once more before she decides that this is a good place to stay for a little while. She walks out of the bus and onto the road. She looks around taking everything in. Her gaze stops on what looks like some type of market and makes her way towards it. 

She walks in and immediately makes her way towards the snack aisle. She is starving. Once she grabbed everything she needs, she walks towards the front counter. _Tall and gorgeous_ is her first thought as she gazes upon the young man behind the counter. Then she looks up and is met with eyes, _blue eyes_.

"Will that be all, miss?" The man asks, his voice gruff.

"Uh, yeah that's all, thank you," she responds, turning red at the inappropriate thoughts that clouded her mind once she heard the voice.

She politely takes the bag from his hands, _rough hands_. She mutters another thank you before exiting the store.

_Hours!_ Betty has been walking around for hours. She keeps on walking until she spots an abandoned drive-in. She walks towards it to get a closer look and spots the projector room. She hops the fence and makes a B-line for the projector room. Once inside, she sets her stuff down to look around. She sees a bed in the corner of the dark room. She falls right onto it and closes her eyes. 


	2. Insomnia is hard enough to fight

** _Thud_ **

_Betty is on the ground as soon as **he** pushes her. He charges towards her. He wraps both of his hands around her throat and squeezes real hard. She can't breathe. Her vision gets blurry. All she can make out is the knife, about 6 inches to the right. She picks up the knife. All of a sudden, everything goes black._

Betty rises from her bed in a jolt. She brings her hands to rest gently on her neck. Her throat is sore. She looks around the projection room and takes in her surroundings. _It was just a dream_, she realizes. She looks out her window. _Sunshine,_ is the only thing she registers.She gets out of bed and locates her bag on the floor. Once she has all of her belongings she exits the projection room.

"Over here is where you'll drop off the orders and pick them up. Here is your writing tablet to write down the orders. And... here is your uniform. You'll start tomorrow at 8:00. Don't be late," the waitress orders as she gives Betty an icy glare.

"I won't," Betty affirms. "Sorry, I didn't catch your name," she says.

"Cheryl. Cheryl Blossom," the redhead responds. "Don't bother giving me yours, 'cause I don't care," she says while walking away.

"This is the bathroom..... and this is the kitchen," the realtor lady finishes as she concludes the tour. "Any questions before we get the paperwork started?" She asks.

"Nope," is Betty's only response.

"Great! Let's get started then," the lady says as she opens a folder full of paperwork.

_ **Ding!** _

Betty walks into the minimarket she discovered yesterday with a little hope that the handsome man from yesterday was still here. She grabs a few things before walking towards the front counter, only to find that no one is there. Disappointment is the only feeling that washes over Betty. She decides to wait.

"BOO!"

Betty flinches backward a little, startled by the sudden voice. She doesn't even register the little girl with long, black, and curly hair with big blue eyes is staring back at her.

"Gotcha!" The little girl giggled.

"Yes you did, you little stinker," Betty teased with her own little giggle. The little girl observes the various items on the counter.

"Did you find everything you're looking for?" The little girl questions. 

"Well..... do you have paint?" Betty asks.

"What are you painting?"

"My kitchen floor."

"Your kitchen floor?" The little girl questions with a giggle. "No one paints the floor, that's silly," she states. "What color do you want?" Betty thinks back to the recent events that occurred less than 24 hours ago.

"Something happy," she simply replies.

"So, like yellow?" 

"Yellow would work." 

"Okay, I'll be right back with some samples," she says as she runs towards the back of the store and Betty stands there waiting. Betty's eyes shot up at the sound of the side door creaking open revealing the gorgeous guy from yesterday. "Uh, hi, sorry I took too long," the man greets, "will this be all?" He asks, gesturing to the numerous things that occupied the counter.

"Found them!" The little girl exclaims, running with yellow samples in hand. She hands them over to Betty and turns towards the gorgeous man. "Hi, daddy!" she greets him._ Wow__, did not expect that._

"Hey bug, are you trying to take over my store again," he teases. The little girl just giggles and runs outside. "Sorry about that, sometimes I have her cover for me when I have to deal with something," he explains.

"That's fine, no worries," Betty replied.

"So, why do you have a lot of yellow samples?" He questions, his eyebrows furrowing.

"I'm painting my kitchen floor," she answers.

"Okay, but why yellow?" He asks with his face scrunched up.

"I wanted a happy color," she explains. 

"Okay, what shade would you like?" He asks. She points to one and he nods in approval. He emails an order to the company. He fills out a receipt, gives it to Betty, and bags up her other items. "The total is $39.99," he tells her. She hands him the money and takes the bags. "The paint arrives here on Thursday," he informs.

"Okay, thank you," she says with a smile.

"Yup, have a good day," he says with a small wave.

She exits the store.

"Since when do we sell paint?" 

Jughead turns towards his coworker and replies, "we don't."

Betty exits the store with a content smile on her face.

"Hey, lady!"

Betty turns towards the little girl.

"Yeah," she replies sweetly.

"I drew this picture for you," the little girl tells her and placing a poorly drawn, yet cute, picture of Betty standing under a rainbow in her hands. 

"It's beautiful, I love it, thank you so much," she coos offering a hug. The little girl accepts. 

"My name is Alexis, but you can call me Lexi," the little girl says.

Betty smiles and replies, "I'm Betty."

They exchange goodbyes and Betty walks home.

Her life was already getting better.


	3. Let me be clear (I'm a mess)

Betty is exhausted.

Betty is currently standing behind the counter on a Wednesday afternoon, trying to wave herself with a random menu. It's already her second day working at Pops Chock lit' Shoppe and it is packed. She has been moving from table to table trying to get orders. And it is _**really **_hot. 

The heat is replaced by a chill as an officer enters the restaurant. _How did** he** already find me?_ She quickly tries to find a place to hide. She makes a quick detour to the supply closet.

"Betty!" Cheryl calls. _Fuck! I'm screwed._

"Yes," she responds.

"Where is the order, for this kind officer?" Cheryl questions as her red-painted lips give a fake smile.

Betty glances at the brown paper bag that is currently occupying the counter and grabs it. Faking a smile she walks towards the officer.

"Hi," she greets. "Sorry it took so long," she said apologetically. The officer gives her a curt nod, but his gaze is lingering on her for a moment too long. She feels like she's gonna faint. _Great, this is it, I'm gonna go without knowing what the gorgeous man's fingers could do. That's what I'm thinking about right now. Get it together Betty. _Getting lost in her inner monologue, she didn't even register that the officer had left.

Betty lets out a sigh.

The next morning Betty makes her way to the market, to get her paints that she ordered on Monday. She enters the store looking for the gorgeous man. She sees him come in from the side door.

"Hey, you're here and..." he pauses, walking behind the counter, "here are your paints," he tells her while placing them on the floor in front of her.

She struggles to pick them up.

"I can give you a lift if you want," he offers.

"Oh, no," she declines. "I'm good, I got this," she says with confidence. With every last bit of physical strength she had left, she successfully picks the paint cans up. She makes it as far as the porch before setting them down. She turns around to see him already watching her through the window. She gives a smile that says, _I'll take you up on your offer._

He gives her a ride.

They arrive at her house 10 minutes later.

"Thanks for the ride," she says.

"No problem, Betty," he tells her. She gives him a questioning look. "My daughter told me a lot about you, she really likes you," he explains.

"Well, I like her too," she says. "So, since you know my name, I think it's only fair I know yours," she suggests.

"It's Jughead," he replies.

"Jughead? There is no way that is your actual name," she laughs.

"It's a nickname actually, the real thing is way worse," he explains. 

"Will you ever tell me?" She asks.

"I will tell you, on one condition," he pauses and she nods gesturing for him to continue, "you go on a date with me," he compromises. 

She's dreaming. She's gotta be dreaming. Because there is no way that this gorgeous man is asking her out. It takes a minute for her to realize that this is in fact not a dream and this is real. This is real!

"Ugh, well I have to know, so I guess I will go on a date with you," she responds with a coy smile.

"Great," he smiles. "Saturday good?" He asks.

"Saturday is great," she replies.

They both get out of his truck, he carries the paint cans to her front porch, they exchange phone numbers, and say their goodbyes.

Betty goes to bed with a massive smile.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry, it's short but I will post another chapter real soon.


End file.
